Sunday, February 7th, 2010 – Jacksonville.com coverage from symposium (February 6th, 2010)
The Jacksonville Community Engagement Group, an informal organization of about 80 corporate, elected and education leaders looking to improve the education of black males in Jacksonville, sponsored the event.
Perry’s school has been featured on CNN and BET for sending all graduates to college.
He addressed a litany of issues Saturday: Improving black children’s manners and dress, taking deadbeat fathers to task, and asking for “warning labels” to be placed on schools with underachieving test scores.
Educators too easily blame families and communities for the academic performance of their students, Perry said.
“We know good schools can mitigate the impact of poverty and race and gender,” he said. “We know that when you send a child to a good school, children learn.”
He said parents and community members have the wrong priorities because they’ve put sports and their child’s “sneaker budget” above education and tutoring.
“You know that there are raggedy schools here in Jacksonville,” he said. “And you let them stay open, and you let the teachers keep getting paid, keep getting their annual raises.”
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